Greater Milwaukee Men

In the beer world, especially among 'craft beer' enthusiasts, Sierra Nevada brewery is iconic, mostly for its IPAs, so it shouldn't be a surprise that their peers would jump a the chance to support them, but what happened this week is shocking - in the best way possible. Sierra Nevada, which makes its home in Chico, CA where the Camp Fire has just finally been put out, but not after devastating the area. SN had already been supporting its neighbors with a relief fund but then they upped the ante: they created a new IPA style beer that they would donate all proceeds, then they invited their brewing friends to join in. And the results are astounding. As of Tuesday 11/27 over 1,000 breweries had agreed to brew the same beer and sell in the same manner - with all proceeds going to the relief of Camp Fire victims.

It's that time of year again - the Milwaukee Film Festival. In fact its the 10th anniversary of this great asset to our city and community. Events and films go on from Oct 18 to Nov 1 While there are lots of great options to see, I am for the first time listing those that fall in line with the GMM philosophy: ones that are inspirational for men in our community. Caveat: I haven't necessarily seen these, I am just going by descriptions and other reviews. But if you are up for being inspired to be a Greater Milwaukee Man, check some of these out:

A shot of the pig on the spit at Big Head Brewery Need something to do today? Saturday, October 13th head over to the Big Head Brewing  4th annual Spanferkel which also benefits the Wounded Warrior Project . What's a Spanferkel? Basically, it's a German pig roast and it will be roasting away and ready to serve at about 12:30 pm.

An example of what the rides and riders of the DGR look like, classic personal style matched with their bikes. It's uncommon for men to think too much about personal hygiene products. We go to the store, grab one of the major brands for things like anitperspirant, shaving, etc., but, just like with our general health, rarely do we think about what is in them that may impact our own health & well-being let alone others' or the environment. This is changing with more diversity of product types nearing a percentage of what is available to women - facial cleansers, skin care, and so on - and indeed there are some brands even at big box stores that embrace more natural care like Burt's Bees, Everyman Jack, and Schmidt's among others. With beards and styled facial hair being more popular, men are also embracing care of . One local shop, Scentsory Bath & Body Boutique in Cedarburg, is addressing the growing demand for personal hygiene products for men with handmad...

From DesignMil's website, photo of a designer last year doing volunteer work for a local non-profit I was able to participate on the receiving end last year of a great collaborative in Milwaukee, a community event that supports non-profits in the area but is far bigger than that. DesignMil is collaborative event that provides free design services to local non-profits. Participation in the event provides many other benefits to the community for both the non-profit and the designers. This year, on October 20, the community will get together to make it better for all.

A friend recently posted an article on social media that got my attention for various reasons. The Adopt a rider (motorcyclist) concept in this RevZilla article speaks to me as a motorcyclist myself but also a rider, and also the concept works for other cases as well and all tie into my hope that we all could adopt the Golden Rule when driving. "Everyone' knows the Golden Rule, here's my take on it when driving: ask yourself "what if I was in their shoes?" A little conscientiousness goes a long way, and when on the road it can help everyone. If we all looked around us and treated other people on the road the way we would want to be treated if in their situation it would reduce stress, even travel times.

A parsnip onion blue cheese tart made with gluten free flours Usually as part of the gluten free 'craze', which often gets a bad rap as a new fad diet and I have debunked here , you see more and more alternatives to wheat flour available. Americans almost seem to take it as an offense, some new war against social norms that people would even think about replacing wheat in their traditional recipes, but the truth is around the world there are many similar foods baked or made with different flours. While its easy to credit the increase and awareness of living gluten free as the impetus to replace wheat in recipes like pasta, bread and other bakery, other sources of flour have been around for centuries especially in non-European cultures, but yes also in many European traditional recipes. For example, rice and buckwheat noodles are common in Asian fare, of course corn flour is used in South American fare, almond flour is used in a lot of Euro baking (like one of my favori...